Archive for the ‘Scones’ Category

The sprouting of local bakeries and patisseries has found its way to Cassia Crescent!

Maple & Market

Maple & Market isn’t all that big, probably able to seat around 10-15 people. This bakery is opened by baker and blogger Sarah Khaw, who used to sell her cakes online.

Cassia

Cassia – a fusion of apple, cinnamon, maple with a cream cheese coating. The cake was quite dense, sticky and moist. The cream cheese was pretty decent – soft, subtly cheesy, without being overly creamy. There wasn’t much of an apple or maple taste though, as the cinnamon shone out strongly.

Chocolate Chip Scone

The most attractive feature of the scone was the numerous chocolate chips! And when slightly heated, the chocolate chips melted into semi-solid delights. But other than that, the scone was majorly disappointing. It lacked the characteristic fragrance and taste of an authentic English scone. Instead, other than looking like a scone, the taste could easily be passed off as a normal mediocre chocolate chip bun.

After months of anticipation, Pasar Bella has finally opened at The Grandstand! Spanning a total indoor area of around 30000 square feet, with more than 30 permanent and weekend traders, Pasar Bella is Singapore’s answer to the concept of farmers’ market found commonly in Europe and USA.

The most important to remember before heading to Pasar Bella is to go with an empty stomach, as 90% of the stalls sells food, drinks or fresh produce.

Le Patio

Le Patio

Nutella Crepe

We were enticed by the enormous tube of Nutella on the counters of Le Patio and promptly ordered the Nutella Crepe ($3.50). We were slightly disappointed with the crepe. The crepe itself was bland and seemingly just a doughy mixture. The Nutella wasn’t sufficient enough to satisfy us. On the whole, the Nutella crepe was pretty amateurish and underwhelming.

Nibbles by Rabbit Carrot Gun

Scone

Our next stop was Nibbles by Rabbit Carrot Gun. Touted to be the stall that sells authentic British snacks, Nibbles sells quiches, pies, cakes and most importantly, scones! Priced at $4.50 each, the scone was pretty expensive. Unfortunately, the standard didn’t match up to the price. The scone was tasteless, floury and lacking in aroma. The inner core was clumpy and a little damp – making the scone pretty heavy and hard to swallow.

Huber’s Deli

Huber’s Deli

Chicken Cheese

Perhaps one of the more popular stalls was Huber’s Deli, evident from the number of people carrying the Huber’s Deli takeaway boxes. Coupled with the fact that Huber Deli’s hotdogs were grilled on the spot, it is no wonder many visitors were enthralled by the aroma and looks of the hotdogs. We ordered the Chicken Cheese ($7.80), with pickles, gruyere cheese, parsley, spices and sauce. The cheese was slightly charred; though the cheese wasn’t particularly salty or strong in flavours, the spices atop the cheese did add some extra flavour to it. We felt that the cheese could have been a little more melted, which would then provide this extra gooeyness. There was also cheese inside the hotdog, which was like the extra burst of surprise. The hotdog was, as usual, of high standards from Huber’s Deli. Authentically meaty and juicy! In addition, the bread had been toasted and hence exuded a fragrance crisp. Thankfully, Huber’s Deli didn’t disappoint!

Dutch Colony Coffee Co.

Seasalt Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Our final conquer of the day was the Seasalt Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake ($5.50) from Frootkeyk, which is sold at the Dutch Colony Coffee Co. We especially enjoyed the peanut butter as it provided that salty, nutty fragrance to the cake. The peanut butter also increased the moistness of the cake. The combination of peanut butter and chocolate can never go wrong.

A new cafe to chill, relax and have some desserts? Try Wimbly Lu at Jalan Riang. We popped by one morning and got our fix of chocolates and scones from them.

Truffles (Milk, Dark, Baileys, Rum and Raisins)

The chocolate truffles, priced at $2 per piece, came in 6 flavours – Milk, Dark, Baileys, Rum and Raisins, Milo and Earl Grey. We tried the first four flavours. The Milk chocolate was a little too sweet for our liking and we preferred the richer and less sweet Dark chocolate. The Baileys was sadly lacking in the alcoholic taste, but there was still a mild coffee flavour. Same goes for the Rum and Raisins. We could bite into some tiny raisin bits, but could not detect any rum taste. We weren’t sure if the lack of alcoholic taste was due to the truffles being under the sun for a while, or that the alcoholic flavours were intrinsically milder. However, the warm temperature resulted in the truffles being slightly softer with the “melts in your mouth” texture, something we very much enjoyed.

Raisin Scone

The raisin scone ($3) was not too bad as well. The outer crust looked slightly wheaty, though the interior was pure white. The scone was slightly fragrant, not too overpowering in the butter taste or aroma, and still exuding the typical scone taste. It was not too heavy and starchy. On the whole, it was one of the better scones we have tried, though it would fare better with more raisins.

The scones from Four Leaves came in three flavours: raisins, chocolate chips & walnuts and cranberries. The scones had an inviting buttery fragrance, but unfortunately did not feature the slightest hint of scone taste. It tasted more similar to the heavier and denser version of butter sponge cake. The addition of raisins, chocolate chips and cranberries did not make much difference to the scones too. We especially disliked the layer of golden brown egg/butter which had been spread on the surface of the scone prior to baking. These plastic like layers detached very easily from the scone.

We embarked on another attempt at scone baking after getting some tips from The Sunday’s Times on the use of Delia Smith’s recipe. The end products were albino-looking scones, but this time round, the taste and texture were satisfactory. They were dense enough and had a thick, sticky dough like texture in the mouth. These were not overly sweet nor salty like previous attempts but somehow still lacking in the authentic English scone taste. We wondered what could have made the difference. Is it the hard water, butter milk or flour which are found and used in England?

Preparation Method:
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and sieve the flour in on top of it. Using your fingertips, rub the butter quickly into the flour. Stir in the sugar, a pinch of salt, followed by the raisins. Take a small palette knife and mix the milk/yoghurt mixture in, a little at a time. When it is all in, flour your hands and knead it all to a soft dough. Press or roll out to form a round about 2cm thick. Cut using a floured plain round cutter. Place on a greased oven tray and glaze with milk. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until scones sound hollow when tapped. Cool on wire rack.

One can expect consistency in the size and quantity of Jones the Grocer’s pastries and breads as they are weighed in their dough form before being sent into the oven. Sadly, their scones are a disappointment. Made from dough using what appeared to be oat/wheat flour, they turned up to be rather tasteless and bland. The cranberries did not seem to make the scone any more flavorful. However, the dough was dense, possessing the correct texture of scone. Freshly out of the oven, it tasted warm and soft in the inside while having a slightly crispy crust. No doubt it was a rather large scone, a price of $4 for the scone was a little too steep to us.

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We do not aim to promote or discredit any restaurants/food places. This blog is solely an avenue to voice our personal and humble opinions of our food escapades. In no way can any content from our blog be used without our consent.